Once again Michael has brought together the great management and leadership concepts of this decade
to provide a practical, well evidenced contribution to leading successful organisations. With a clear and
insightful understanding of organisation realities, Michael’s understanding of team work, staff engagement
and heath and well being are combined to provide an extremely helpful practitioner and leadership guide
supported by all the research, evidence and exercise material we’ve come to expect. In a world where the
focus of personal and organisational psychology is often remedial, this books engages us in using positive
psychology to enhance the quality of life for staff through the achievement of shared goals.
Dean Royles, Director, NHS Employers, UK
Imagine seven billion individuals on earth…most of whom at some time experience life as members of
teams, especially at work but elsewhere as well…and imagine the incalculable combinations of people and
situations that make for teams. Where can we possibly look for advice on how to get so many different
teams to be effective? Look first to Michael West’s new book. It maintains a laser focus on what it really
means for a team to be effective. It embraces the complexity of things that matter – leadership, goals,
support, technology to name just a few – and it consistently delivers evidence-based advice on the surest
ways of making teamwork effective.
Rick Guzzo, Principal and Worldwide Partner, Mercer Human Resources Consulting
More organizations than ever before have come to the realization that effective teamwork is essential to success. Yet
businesses still find that the reality of working in teams is fraught with psychological barriers and practical difficulties.
Utilizing the most up-to-date research evidence, the third edition of Effective Teamwork provides business managers
with the necessary tools to build and maintain effective teamwork strategies in order to maximize efficiencies and
further their organizational objectives.
Psychologist and business expert Michael West provides an in-depth examination of the range of positive and
negative factors that can affect team functioning. Reflecting the newest developments in the field, the third edition
features new chapters on top management teams and virtual team working, as well as increased coverage of
such areas as team appraisal rationale, training for team working, ‘shared mental models,’ dealing with typical
failures, and contributions of positive psychology to effective teamwork. Consideration of ethics and values in team
functioning – a theme that emerged during the recent financial crisis – is also incorporated into all chapters.
EFFECTIVE TEAMWORK
This new edition of Michael West’s book helps us understand what a team is and what we can do to
improve teams’ functioning. The book covers the most important factors impacting on teams’ operation
and outcomes. It is based on solid scientific knowledge and the author’s extensive applied experience in
the field. It provides readers with useful tools that can be implemented to help managers lead and develop
their teams. Based on my own experience as director of a university service, I can tell that these tools,
and the knowledge on which they are based, really work.
Vicente González-Romá, Director of the Observatory of Job Insertion and Occupational Guidance, University of
Valencia, Spain; Editor of the European Journal of Work & Organizational Psychology
WEST
Yet again, in the third edition of this deservedly popular pocket book, Michael West has produced a
masterly digest of knowledge from a sprawling literature on this vitally important topic. Insights, examples
and learning points emerge from first page to last, including, new to this edition, the very latest research
on virtual and top management teams. It is unusual for books to successfully bridge the academic and
practical divide, but this one has equal appeal for scholars wanting the lowdown on the state of the field,
and for practicing managers trying to figure out what goes right and what goes wrong with teams in their
organisations. You will not find a finer, more concise, authoritative and clearer assembly of available
knowledge on teams anywhere.
Nigel Nicholson, Professor of Organisational Behavior, London Business School, UK; author of Managing the Human
Animal and Family Wars
With its clear insights and careful balance of rigorous science with organizational practicalities, Effective Teamwork
is an invaluable guide to the establishment and maintenance of effective management teams today.
Cover image: Inshore Rescue boat crew training on the Severn. © Steve Sant/Alamy
Cover design by Design Deluxe
THIRD EDITION
MICHAEL A. WEST is Professor of Organizational Psychology at Lancaster University Management School, UK.
Previously Executive Dean of Aston Business School, he has authored, edited or co-edited seventeen books. He
has also published over 200 articles for scientific and practitioner publications, and numerous chapters in scholarly
books. He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society (BPS), the American Psychological Association (APA),
the Society for Industrial & Organizational Psychology (SIOP), the British Academy of Management (BAM) and the
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).
MICHAEL A. WEST
EFFECTIVE
TEAMWORK
Practical Lessons from
Organizational Research
THIRD EDITION
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Effective Teamwork
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Effective Teamwork
Practical Lessons from
Organizational Research
Third Edition
Michael A. West
Lancaster University Management School
Bailrigg, Lancaster
and
The Work Foundation
London
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This edition first published 2012 by the British Psychological Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
First edition published by Blackwell Publishers 1994, second edition published by Blackwell Publishing 2003.
First edition copyright Michael A. West
Second edition copyright Michael A. West
BPS Blackwell is an imprint of Blackwell Publishing, which was acquired by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
in February 2007.
Registered Office
John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, UK
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For details of our global editorial offices, for customer services, and for information about how
to apply for permission to reuse the copyright material in this book please see our website at
www.wiley.com/wiley-blackwell.
The right of Michael A. West to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance
with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording
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of a competent professional should be sought.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
West, Michael A., 1951–
Effective teamwork : practical lessons from organizational research / Michael A West. – 3rd ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-470-97498-8 (cloth) – ISBN 978-0-470-97497-1 (pbk.)
1. Teams in the workplace. I. Title.
HD66.W473 2012
658.4′022–dc23
2011035195
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This book is published in the following electronic formats: ePDFs 9781119966005; ePub 9781444355345;
eMobi 9781444355338
Set in 10/12pt Sabon by SPi Publisher Services, Pondicherry, India
1
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To: Rosa Hardy
for being a wonderful example of the supportiveness,
courage and creativity that are essential for great
teamwork
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Contents
Acknowledgements
xi
Part 1 Team Effectiveness
1
1 Creating Effective Teams
3
Task and Social Elements of Team Functioning
Team Effectiveness
Key Revision Points
Further Reading
Web Resources
2 Real Teams Work
Why Work in Teams?
Barriers to Effective Teamwork
What is a Team?
What do Teams do?
How can we build Effective Teams?
Conclusions
Key Revision Points
Further Reading
Web Resources
Part 2
Developing Teams
3 Creating Teams
Personality and Ability
Teamwork Skills
Diversity of Team Members
Benefiting from Team Diversity
Implications of Diversity
Key Revision Points
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6
7
12
12
12
13
17
21
27
29
31
35
37
37
38
39
41
43
49
52
57
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viii Contents
Further Reading
Web Resources
59
59
4 Leading Teams
60
The Three Team Leadership Tasks
The Three Elements of Leading Teams
Tripwires for Team Leaders
Developing Team Leadership Skills
Self-managing or Shared Leadership Work Teams
Key Revision Points
Further Reading
Web Resources
5 Team Training
The Stages of Team Development
Types of Team Training Interventions
Conclusions
Key Revision Points
Further Reading
Web Resources
61
63
77
79
84
85
85
86
87
89
91
101
102
102
102
Part 3 Team Working
105
6 Setting Team Direction
107
Team Objectives
The Elements of Team Vision
Strategy for Teams
Key Revision Points
Further Reading
Web Resources
7 Team Playing
Interaction
Information Sharing
Influencing and Decision Making
Creating Safety in Teams
Key Revision Points
Further Reading
Web Resources
8 Team Quality Management
Groupthink
Team Pressures to Conform
Obedience to Authority
Team Defence Mechanisms
Commitment to Quality
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107
113
115
117
117
118
119
120
124
125
131
133
134
134
135
136
138
139
139
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Contents ix
9
Task Focus/Constructive Controversy
Encouraging Constructive Controversy in Teams
Conclusion
Key Revision Points
Further Reading
Web Resources
142
143
151
152
153
153
Creative Team Problem Solving
155
Team Innovation
Creative Problem Solving in Teams
Techniques for Promoting Creativity within a Team
Using Creativity Techniques in Team Meetings
Other Influences on Team Innovation
Key Revision Points
Further Reading
Web Resources
156
160
162
166
167
170
170
171
10 Team Support
The Emotional Life of Teams
Social Support
Support for Team Member Growth and Development
Balance between Home and Work Life
Social Climate
Conclusions
Key Revision Points
Further Reading
Web Resources
11 Conflict in Teams
Team Conflicts
Types of Team Conflict
Resolving Team Conflicts
Organizational Causes of Conflict
Interpersonal Conflicts
Difficult Team Members
Key Revision Points
Further Reading
Web Resources
172
174
176
182
184
184
186
187
187
187
188
188
189
189
191
193
195
198
198
198
Part 4 Teams in Organizations
199
12 Teams in Organizations
201
Introducing Team-based Working (TBW)
The Relationship between Teams and their Organizations
What do Teams need from their Organizations?
The Role of Human Resource Management (HRM)
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205
207
209
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x
Contents
What do Organizations require from Teams?
Bridging across Teams
Conclusions
Key Revision Points
Further Reading
Web Resources
13 Virtual Team Working
What is Virtual Team Working?
Advantages and Disadvantages of Virtual Teams
How to Develop Effective Virtual Team Working
Lifecycle of Virtual Teams
Conclusion
Key Revision Points
Further Reading
Web Resources
14 Top Management Teams
Task Design
Team Effort and Skills
Organizational Supports
Top Management Team Processes
Top Team Participation
Corporate Social Responsibility
Top Team Meetings
Conflict
CEO Leadership
Conclusions
Key Revision Points
Further Reading
Web Resources
References
Author Index
Subject Index
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216
219
219
220
220
221
225
227
228
235
238
239
239
240
241
243
245
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254
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Acknowledgements
My thanks to the members of the research teams I have the privilege to be a
part of, particularly Jeremy Dawson and Joanne Richardson, whose thinking
and collaboration have influenced the preparation of this latest edition of
Effective Teamwork. Lynn Markiewicz continues to inspire my thinking
through her work in AstonOD and many of the examples of good practice
either spring from her work in organizations or have been tested by her in
challenging organizational settings. Thanks also to Lilian Otaye who
patiently and kindly helped develop case studies, find useful web sites for
readers and ensure a finished product. And to Ellie Hardy for so carefully
proofreading and indexing to the high standards of an Oxford English
scholar. And thanks to readers of previous editions who have offered useful
suggestions for improvements.
Michael West
Lancaster University Management School,
and The Work Foundation
May 2011
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Part 1
Team Effectiveness
In this first section of the book, we examine what effective teamwork means.
The first chapter looks at what is required for effective teamwork, identifying
two themes that run through the book. These are team task functioning and
team socio-emotional climate. The chapter explains how effective teams
take time to review their performance in these areas and to adapt accordingly.
Ensuring the team is functioning well both as a task group and as a social
group is vital to ensuring team effectiveness. Reflecting on these areas of
teamwork regularly and making changes in objectives, strategies and team
processes as necessary are vital for the long-term effectiveness of the team.
The second chapter focuses on the research evidence about whether teams
work or not. Are teams effective in getting work done and does teamwork
in organizations lead to improved organizational performance? Effectiveness
includes the well-being and development of team members as well as the
level of innovation in the team. The chapter reviews the research on the
problems of team working to show the circumstances in which teams
perform badly. However, the chapter also shows that teams outperform the
aggregate of individuals working alone and are essential for the performance of many tasks in organizations. The key is knowing how to create the
conditions for teams to work effectively – the subject of this book.
Effective Teamwork: Practical Lessons from Organizational Research, Third Edition.
By M. A. West. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Published 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.,
and the British Psychological Society.
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1
Creating Effective Teams
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens
can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
(Margaret Mead)
Key Learning Points
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
The basic conditions for effective teamwork
The conditions for outstanding teamwork
Team reflexivity and its importance in team functioning
The two dimensions of team functioning – task and social
reflexivity
The five elements of team effectiveness
The relationship of team reflexivity to team effectiveness
The application of the reflexivity questionnaire to real teams
Our societies and communities face the fundamental challenge of how to
enable people to combine their efforts and imaginations to work in ways
that enhance quality of life through the achievement of our shared goals.
The major challenges that face our species today require us to cooperate
effectively in order to maximize the quality of life for all people while, at the
same time, sustaining the resources offered by the planet? For thousands of
years the most potent solution we have found has been teamwork. So why
Effective Teamwork: Practical Lessons from Organizational Research, Third Edition.
By M. A. West. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Published 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.,
and the British Psychological Society.
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4
Part 1: Team Effectiveness
the need for a book on teamwork if we have been working in teams
successfully for so long? Because the landscape of teamwork has changed
fundamentally in the last 200 years. The growth of modern organizations
has created a context in which teams no longer work in isolation. Teams
must work together with other teams and with organizational systems and
processes to achieve the goals we aspire to and overcome the challenges we
face. This book offers guidelines for this new context, largely based on
research evidence, for how to ensure effective teamwork and how to enable
multi-team systems to operate in an integrated and effective way. More than
that what the book offers is insights into how to create outstandingly
effective teams – dream teams – teams that achieve more than their members
imagined possible and which enable and inspire the success of other teams
within their organizations. The book describes both the basic conditions for
effective team working and the conditions that will produce dream teams.
The basic conditions for effective teamwork include having a real team
whose membership is clear, which is of the right size, relatively stable in
membership and working on a task that requires teamwork. The team
must have an overall purpose that adds value and which is translated into
clear, challenging team objectives. And the team needs the right people as
team members with the required skills in the right roles. They must be enablers not derailers – people who support effective team working through
their behaviours, not people who sabotage, undermine or obstruct team
functioning.
In addition to these basic conditions, dream teams are characterized by
transformational leadership that reinforces an inspiring and motivating
team purpose focused sharply on the needs of the team’s stakeholders
(clients, customers, patients); that encourages all team members to value the
diversity of its membership. Members have opportunities to grow and learn
in their roles and there is a strong sense of continuous growth and development as a team. Dream teams have a high level of positivity, characterized
by optimism and a healthy balance of positive and negative interactions.
Members are open, appreciative, kind and genuine in their interactions with
each other and eager to learn from each other. Team members believe in the
team’s ability to be successful and effective in their work (team potency).
They are secure in their team membership and attached to the team because
of the level of trust and support they encounter – and the fact that members
appropriately back each other up in crises. And the team’s relationship with
the wider organization is engaged and supportive. The team actively builds
effective inter-team relationships and members identify enthusiastically, not
just with their team, but with the wider organization of which they are a
part. Such dream teams, and teams of dream teams, enable effective
communication and fruitful collaborations in which new ideas are shared
and integrated, work load is shared, mutual support is provided and
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Creating Effective Teams 5
opportunities are exploited to their full potential. Later in the book, the
reader will discover how to create these conditions.
Creating and sustaining effective teams requires persistent renewal and
discovery of good practice. Moreover, teams vary in the tasks they undertake,
the contexts they work in and their membership. And change is a constant:
so teams must adapt to the changes that confront them within and outside
their organizations. Both the variation between teams and the changing
context of all teams requires flexible team members, flexible team processes
and flexible organizations. And we have a wondrous capacity to encourage
such flexibility. What we are able to do – and no other animal can – is to
reflect upon our experiences and consciously adapt what we do to adjust to
changing circumstances. And we can use this ability to learn to dance the
dance of teamwork ever more effectively. Applied at team level, this is
termed team reflexivity.
Team reflexivity involves:
●
●
●
●
●
●
regular team reviews of the team’s objectives including an assessment of
their continuing relevance and appropriateness, as well as progress
towards their fulfilment;
team member vigilance for external changes that could affect the team’s work;
awareness, review and discussion of the team’s functioning with a view
to improving performance;
creativity, flexibility and adaptability;
tolerance of uncertainty;
team members valuing the different perspectives, knowledge bases, skills
and experience of team members.
Teams operate in varied organizational settings – as diverse as multinational oil companies, voluntary organizations, healthcare organizations
and the military – so we need to be cautious about offering one-size-fits-all
prescriptions for effective teamwork. Within organizations too, teams differ
markedly. Teams are often composed of people with very different cultural
backgrounds, ages, functional expertise and personalities. Teams may span
national boundaries, including members located in several countries.
Differences in work patterns such as part-time, flexitime, contract working
and home working all add further mixes to the heterogeneity of teams.
As teams become more diverse in their constitution and functioning, team
members must learn to reflect upon, and intelligently adapt to the constantly
changing circumstances in order to be effective. In this book, it is proposed
that, to the extent that team members collectively reflect on the team’s
objectives, strategies, processes and performance and make changes accordingly (team reflexivity) (West, 2000; Widmer, Schippers, and West, 2009),
teams will be more productive, effective and innovative.
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6
Part 1: Team Effectiveness
Task and Social Elements of Team Functioning
There are two fundamental dimensions of team functioning: the task the
team is required to carry out, and the social factors that influence how
members work together as a social unit. The basic reason for the creation of
teams in work organizations is the expectation that they will carry out some
tasks more effectively than individuals and so further organizational
objectives overall. In fact, some tasks can only be undertaken by teams of
people working together rather than individuals working alone – think of
open-heart surgery, the construction of a car, catching an antelope on the
savannah without the benefit of modern technology or weapons. Consideration of the content of the task, and the strategies and processes employed
by team members to carry out that task, is therefore important for understanding how to work in teams. At the same time, teams are composed of
people who have a variety of emotional, social and other human needs that
the team as a whole can either help to meet or frustrate. Feeling valued,
respected and supported by other team members will be a prerequisite for
people offering their ideas for new and improved ways of ensuring team
effectiveness. If we ignore either dimension in trying to achieve team
effectiveness, we will fail to achieve the potential of team performance.
Research evidence now shows convincingly how important positive
emotions, such as hope, pleasure, happiness, humour, excitement, joy, pride
and involvement, are as a source of human strength (Fredrickson, 2009).
When we feel positive emotions we think in a more flexible, open-minded
way, and consider a much wider range of possibilities than if we feel anxious,
depressed or angry. This enables us to accomplish tasks and make the most
of the situations we find ourselves in. We are also more likely to see challenges
as opportunities rather than threats. When we feel positive we exercise
greater self-control, cope more effectively and are less likely to react
defensively in workplace situations. The litany of benefits does not stop
there. It spills over too into what is called ‘pro-social behaviour’ – cooperation and altruism. When we feel positive emotion we are more likely to be
helpful, generous and to exercise a sense of social responsibility (for a review,
see Fredrickson, 2009). The implications for teams are that by developing
a team environment where people feel positive, we can encourage
organizational citizenship – in other words the tendency of people at work
to help each other and those in other departments; to do that bit extra which
is not part of their job. And such citizenship makes a major difference
between the most effective teams and the rest. The idea that we can create
effective teams by focusing simply on performance and ignoring the role of
our emotions is based on the false premise that emotions can be ignored at
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Creating Effective Teams 7
work. Positive relationships and a sense of community are the product and
cause of positive emotions. We must work with human needs and capacities
and potentials rather than against them if we are to create positive teams
that succeed and at the same time, foster the health and well-being of those
who work within them.
In order to function effectively, team members must actively focus upon
their objectives, regularly reviewing ways of achieving them and the team’s
methods of working – ‘task reflexivity’. At the same time, in order to promote
the well-being of its members, the team must reflect upon the ways in which
it provides support to members, how conflicts are resolved and what is the
overall social and emotional climate of the team – or its ‘social reflexivity’.
The purpose of these reviews should be to inform the next steps by changing
as appropriate the team’s objectives, ways of working or social functioning,
in order to promote effectiveness.
Team Effectiveness
So what does ‘team effectiveness’ mean? Team effectiveness can be seen as
constituting five main components:
1 Task effectiveness is the extent to which the team is successful in achieving
its task-related objectives.
2 Team member well-being refers to factors such as the well-being or
mental health (e.g., stress), growth and development of team members.
3 Team viability is the likelihood that a team will continue to work together
and function effectively.
4 Team innovation is the extent to which the team develops and implements
new and improved processes, products and procedures.
5 Inter-team cooperation is the effectiveness of the team in working with
other teams in the organization with which it has to work in order to
deliver products or services.
Table 1 shows the two elements of teams, the task and social elements,
drawn together in a two-by-two model to illustrate four extreme types of
team functioning and the likely effects upon the five principle outcomes of
team functioning: task effectiveness, team members’ mental health, team
viability, innovation and inter-team cooperation (such models are a simplification of reality but for our immediate purposes this model serves to
illustrate some important points).
Type A, the Resilient team, represents a team which is high in both task
and social reflexivity, that is, the extent to which the team reflects on and
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8
Part 1: Team Effectiveness
Table 1
Four types of teams and their outcomes.
High Task Reflexivity
Type D: Driven team
Type A: Resilient team
High short-term task effectiveness
Poor team member well-being
Short-term viability
Moderate innovation
High inter-team conflict
High task effectiveness
Good team member well-being
Long-term viability
High innovation
High inter-team cooperation
Low Social Reflexivity
High Social Reflexivity
Type C: Dysfunctional team
Type B: Complacent team
Poor task effectiveness
Poor team member well-being
Very low team viability
Low innovation
High inter-team conflict
Poor task effectiveness
Average team member well-being
Short-term viability
Low innovation
Moderate inter-team conflict
Low Task Reflexivity
modifies its objectives, processes, task and social support strategies
appropriately in changing circumstances. Such teams are likely to have
good levels of well-being amongst team members, high task effectiveness,
and sustained viability, that is, they have the capacity and desire to continue to work together. Because of the high levels of both task and social
reflexivity they are able to adapt to changing circumstances and ensure
sustained high performance. Consequently, they are also more likely to
innovate and have the capacity to work effectively with other teams within
the organization with which they have to work in order to deliver goods or
services.
Type B, the Complacent team, is high in social reflexivity and low in task
reflexivity. This is a team where there is a good deal of warmth, support and
cohesion amongst team members, but where the ability to get the task done
effectively is low. Team members do not dedicate time to reflecting upon the
team’s task objectives, strategies and processes and therefore do not confront
their performance problems, learn from mistakes or adapt their task performance to ensure effectiveness. Therefore, while team members’ well-being is
good and they value their colleagues, the organization’s satisfaction with
team performance is low and team members experience the disappointment
of membership of a failing or at best poorly performing team. As a result its
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Creating Effective Teams 9
viability is threatened. Even if team members wish to continue to work
together over a period of time, the organization is likely to break the team
up. In the longer term team members’ well-being will be adversely affected
by the low levels of competence experienced by team members in a team
which is minimally task effective. We like to be successful and effective in
our work. Staying in a poorly functioning team corrodes job satisfaction.
Such a team, with a lack of performance focus, is unlikely to have the
motivation to innovate. Despite their warmth, they will create a degree of
irritation and dissatisfaction in the other teams they have to work with,
because of their ineffectiveness.
Type C, the Dysfunctional team, is the worst scenario – a team that is low
on both task and social reflexivity. Such teams fail to reflect on and change
their functioning in either domain. They will not be viable in the long term
since team members leaders will be dissatisfied with both the interpersonal
relationships and with the team’s failures to achieve. Frustration with the
team’s poor performance will cause organization leaders to intervene or
disband the team. Interventions to promote both task and social reflexivity
in the team should be immediate and sustained since team members will
learn to function effectively both in the team of which they are currently
members and in teams they are part of in the future. The lack of safety and
effectiveness combine to mitigate against innovation and the team’s
performance creates high levels of conflict with the other teams that rely on
them, because of their failure to deliver.
Finally team type D, the Driven team, is a team in which task reflexivity
is high, but where the social functioning of the team is poor. Members are
driven to focus on achieving task objectives as quickly as possible with
minimum distractions. Task performance is generally good in the short
term, but poor social functioning damages team viability and the wellbeing of members. Team members do not enjoy working in a team that
they perceive as providing little social support and which has a poor social
climate. Moreover, because the team does not feel safe, levels of innovation are low. The team fails to reflect on its health as a social entity, so
little progress is made in improving the team’s functioning as a social unit.
In the long term, the team will fail to achieve its potential. Without a
positive, supportive climate, levels of cooperation will be low and the
team’s capacity for creativity and innovation will be limited. In some circumstances (such as a short-term crisis) focusing on the task to the exclusion of all else might make sense but at some point there must be healthy
reviews of social functioning. Support, backing up, enabling and coaching
are vital team member behaviours in any team. Moreover, because they
are driven, they are likely to come into conflict with the other teams with
which they need to work, either because they become frustrated by the
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10
Part 1: Team Effectiveness
speed of delivery from other teams or because they are too concerned with
their own team’s performance and less concerned with findings ways of
helping other teams.
These two aspects of team functioning, namely task and social reflexivity,
have a direct impact upon the three principal outcomes of team functioning –
task effectiveness, team members’ well-being and team viability. In this book
we examine these elements of team functioning and describe practical ways
in which team reflexivity can be enhanced.
Research evidence drives the content of the book. We will challenge many
assumptions about teamwork that the research evidence does not support
by informing the reader on what research reveals about effective teamwork,
rather than on what consultants and pundits guess makes for effective
teamwork. I also offer examples from my experience of working with teams
in a wide variety of settings and across many different countries.
Throughout the book, we will focus on answering the question:
‘what makes teams effective?’ in a way that will prove practically useful
to you in working in or with teams, and will help you to develop them
into fully functioning teams which are high in both task and social
reflexivity.
Exercise 1 The team reflexivity questionnaire
How effectively does your team function?
To measure levels of task and social reflexivity in your team, ask all
team members to complete this questionnaire without consulting each
other about the answers. Add the scores for task reflexivity and social
reflexivity separately, that is, add all team members’ scores for the task
element and then all team members’ scores for the social element.
Divide both totals by the number of people completing the questionnaire. At the bottom of this box are values against which you can
determine whether your team’s scores are high, low or average compared with the scores of other teams.
Instructions for completion:
Indicate how far each statement is an accurate or inaccurate description of your team by writing a number in the box beside each statement, based on the following scale of 1 to 7:
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Creating Effective Teams 11
Very
inaccurate
1
Very
accurate
2
3
4
5
6
(a) Task reflexivity
1 The team often reviews its objectives.
2 We regularly discuss whether the team is working
together effectively.
3 The methods used by the team to get the job done
are often discussed
4 In this team we modify our objectives in the light
of changing circumstances.
5 Team strategies are often changed.
6 How well we communicate information is often
discussed.
7 This team often reviews its approach to getting
the job done.
8 The way decisions are made in this team is
often reviewed.
Total score
(b) Social reflexivity
1 Team members provide each other with support
when times are difficult.
2 When things at work are stressful the team
is very supportive.
3 Conflict does not linger in this team.
4 People in this team often teach each other new skills.
5 When things at work are stressful, we pull together
as a team.
6 Team members are always friendly.
7 Conflicts are constructively dealt with in this team.
8 People in this team are quick to resolve arguments.
Total score
High scores
Average scores
Low scores
West_c01.indd 11
(a) Task reflexivity
(b) Social reflexivity
42–56
34–41
0–33
42–56
34–41
0–33
7
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12 Part 1: Team Effectiveness
As a team, you can discuss how to improve your functioning where it seems
low for no good reason. Such a discussion can be a first step towards improving the extent to which the team reflects on its objectives, strategies, processes
and social functioning in order to ensure it is a fully functional team.
Key Revision Points
●
●
●
●
●
What are the basic conditions for effective teamwork?
What are the conditions necessary for outstanding or ‘dream’ teams?
What is team reflexivity and what is the difference between task and
social reflexivity?
What are the main elements of team effectiveness?
How do task and social reflexivity affect team effectiveness?
Further Reading
Cameron, K.S., Dutton, J.E. and Quinn, R.E. (2003) Positive Organizational
Scholarship: Foundations of a New Discipline, Berrett-Koehler, San Francisco.
Fredrickson, B. (2009) Positivity, Random House, New York.
Linley, P.A., Harrington, S. and Garcea, N. (eds) (2010) Oxford Handbook of
Positive Psychology and Work, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
West, M.A. (2000) Reflexivity, revolution, and innovation in work teams, in Product
Development Teams (eds M.M. Beyerlein, D.A. Johnson and S.T. Beyerlein), JAI
Press, Stamford, CT, pp. 1–29.
Widmer, P.S. Schippers, M.C. and West, M.A. (2009) Recent developments in
reflexivity research: a review. Psychology of Everyday Activity, 2, 2–11.
Web Resources
Reflexivity: http://reflexivitynetwork.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=
article&id=47&Itemid=53 (last accessed 25 July 2011).
Team development: www.astonod.com (last accessed 25 July 2011).
Positivity: www.positivityratio.com/
www.cappeu.com/ (last accessed 25 July 2011).
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2
Real Teams Work
There is no hope for creating a better world without a deeper scientific
insight in the function of leadership and culture, and of other essentials
of group life … (Kurt Lewin, 1943)
Key Learning Points
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
The difference between pseudo teams and real teams
The organizational benefits of team working
The drawbacks of working in teams – weaker effort, decision
making and creativity
Teams defined and types of teams
Tasks for teams
How to build an effective team
How to measure team performance
Effective Teamwork: Practical Lessons from Organizational Research, Third Edition.
By M. A. West. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Published 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.,
and the British Psychological Society.
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14
Part 1: Team Effectiveness
Case Study
18 carat or fool’s gold: Team work and patient
mortality in health care
The United Kingdom National Health Service employs in the region of
1.4 million staff whose responsibility is to provide high-quality and
safe patient care. Every year a staff survey is carried out to elicit their
views about their working conditions, their management and
leadership, the quality of care they provide and the environment
within which they work. They are asked ‘Do you work in a team?’ and
typically each year around 90% of staff say ‘yes’ in response. Given
the evidence on the importance of teamwork in health care for better
patient outcomes, this might seem very encouraging. However, the
survey asks three follow-up questions of those who indicate they work
in a team: ‘Does your team have clear objectives? Do you work closely
together to achieve those objectives? Do you meet regularly to review
your performance and how it can be improved?’ These three questions
tap the very basic dimensions of team working – shared objectives,
interdependence and review meetings. Staff who answer ‘no’ to one or
more of these questions are categorized as belonging to a pseudo team
(around 50% of staff). Those who answer ‘yes’ to all three questions
are classified as working in a real team (around 40%). There are
therefore three groups: those who indicate they do not work in a team;
those who work in real teams; and those who work in pseudo teams.
The data reveal that the greater percentage of staff working in pseudo
teams within a hospital or other healthcare organization, the higher
the levels of injuries to staff at work (typically from needles, lifting
and falls); the higher the level of witnessed errors that could harm
patients or staff; the higher the levels of violent assaults from patients
or their carers, relatives and friends; and the higher the levels of
bullying, harassment and abuse from those same groups. The opposite
relationships is observed in relation to the percentage of staff in the
hospital working in real teams – fewer injuries, errors, violent assaults
and cases of harassment, bullying and abuse. Moreover absenteeism is
lower the greater the percentage of staff working in real teams. Most
strikingly, there is a strong relationship with patient mortality. Having
more real teams is associated with lower patient mortality and more
pseudo teams are independently associated with higher mortality. The
data show that 5% more staff working in real teams would be
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Real Teams Work
15
associated with a decrease of 3.3% in patient mortality (typically 40
deaths per year in each hospital). With 50% working in pseudo teams,
the opportunities for improvement in mortality figures (assuming a
causal relationship) are enormous and added across the entire National
Health Service, truly staggering. (Further details of this work are
available from the author at m.a.west@lancaster.ac.uk)
This case study reveals the importance of being clear about what we mean
by teamwork – a topic we will explore in more depth in this chapter. Before
we do that, we will consider the role of teamwork in human society and
evolutionary history.
To live, work, and play in human society is to cooperate with others. We
express both our collective identity and our individuality in groups and
organizations (De Cremer, van Dick and Murnighan, 2011). Our identity
comes from the groups of which we are a part – clubs, voluntary societies,
professions, sports teams (playing or supporting), work organizations and
political affiliations. We have, throughout our history, lived, loved, raised
our young, and worked together in groups (Baumeister and Leary, 1995).
Our common experiences of living and working together bind us with each
other and with our predecessors. It is precisely because human beings have
learned to work cooperatively together that we have made such astonishing
progress as a species. By mapping the human genome we have discovered
the underlying biochemical processes that make us what we are. And we
have explored the beginnings and the outer limits of our universe. These
extraordinary accomplishments have been accomplished largely by teams,
and by teams of teams. When we work cooperatively we accomplish
infinitely more than if we work individually. This is the principle of group
synergy – that the contribution of the whole group is greater than the sum
of its individual members’ contributions. To push a large boulder up a hill is
not manageable when we work alone – but we can achieve this when we
work together. Throughout our history, we have worked in small groups
and teams. It is only in the last 200 years that people have begun to work in
the larger collectives we call organizations (prior to that only the religious
and military were of any substantial size).
The growth of the modern organization, with its complex structures and
competing goals of fostering innovation while exerting control over
relatively large numbers of employees, has been astonishing in its rapidity.
Yet most of us now take these entities for granted. In fact, they pose real
challenges to us in our working lives. When we worked in small teams over
very long periods of time in agricultural or craft settings, co-workers were
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16 Part 1: Team Effectiveness
intimately acquainted with each other’s knowledge, skills and abilities. Team
working was finely honed and developed over many years. Many of us
today are members of multiple teams, interacting with other teams, and
seeing a constant flux in team membership. Such conditions pose real
challenges to effective working. And yet teamwork survives as an ideal way
of working in organizations, partly because it is the way we have always
worked successfully. But team working in many organizations is poorly
developed – more fool’s gold than 18 carat.
We face new demands in modern organizations that make cooperative
work in teams both more vital and more challenging. To meet the pressures
of the global marketplace, organizations are moving away from rigid,
hierarchical structures towards more organic, flexible forms. Teams are
developing and marketing products, solving production problems, and
creating corporate strategy. Managers are experimenting with participation,
high-commitment organizations, self-managing work teams, employee–
management cooperation, and ‘gainsharing’ programmes (where employees
have a share of the gains made as a result of the innovations they have
implemented). These innovations involve the explicit use of teams to
accomplish central organizational tasks. The team rather than the individual
is increasingly considered the basic building block of organizations.
Teamwork is spilling out across organizational and national boundaries.
Many manufacturers form teams with suppliers to boost quality, reduce
costs and ensure continuous improvement. International alliances are
becoming the accepted way to participate in the global marketplace.
American and Japanese automakers and other traditional competitors have
developed a wide variety of cooperative strategies. Increasingly, people with
different organizational and national loyalties from diverse cultural
backgrounds and with unequal status are asked to work together. And
teams from commercial organizations are linking with those from
universities to develop exciting, useful and radical innovations (West,
Tjosvold and Smith, 2003). So why do we work in teams? Put simply it is
because teams enable us to accomplish what would otherwise be impossible.
Catching antelopes on the savannah 200 000 years ago or taking stones
from the Preseli mountains in Wales to Stonehenge in southern England and
erecting them in the famous circle required sophisticated teamwork; heart
by-pass operations require tight interdependent working between surgeons,
anaesthetists, surgical nurses and administrators; airline passengers rely on
cockpit teams to deliver them safely to their destination. Every task that
cannot be accomplished without people working interdependently in small
groups is a compelling example of the value of teamwork (West, Brodbeck
and Richter, 2004).
In hard-rock mining the introduction of team goals leads to a greater
quantity of rocks mined. In work safety studies, the introduction of team
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Real Teams Work
17
goals and training sees an increase in safe work behaviour. When I finished my
PhD at the University of Wales in 1977, I went to work in Oakdale Colliery
for a year to pay off my student debts. Working in a coal-mining team demonstrated forcibly to me how the team managed safety effectively by exerting
pressure to ensure we all worked in a way that minimized the likelihood of
injury. In a study of timber harvesting the introduction of team goals led to a
higher output rate; in restaurant services the introduction of team working for
staff was associated with higher customer ratings of service quality, comfort
and cleanliness; in an insurance company, increased compliance with a
24-hour reporting standard was found after the introduction of team working;
and in truck loading and unloading, truck turnaround time was reduced after
the introduction of a team goal (Weldon and Weingart, 1993). Studies in
health care have repeatedly shown that better patient care is provided when
health professionals work together in multidisciplinary teams (Borrill et al.,
2000). And it has been shown that the more real team working there is in
hospitals, the lower the level of patient mortality (see, for example, West,
2002; West, Markiewicz and Dawson, 2006). There is evidence that when
students work in cooperative groups rather than individually, they work
harder, help less able group members, and learn more (Slavin, 1983). It is by
working together and pooling our resources (knowledge, abilities, experience,
time, money, etc.) that we can most effectively accomplish our shared goals.
But we can go further in our understanding of the value of teams by considering
the multiplicity of benefits they can offer in the modern organization.
Why Work in Teams?
●
●
West_c02.indd 17
Teams are a very good way to enact organizational strategy, because of the
need for consistency between rapidly changing organizational environments, strategy and structure. When organizations adopt team-based
structures, there is less need for the ponderous hierarchies that slow
organizational decision making because the team rather than the individual
becomes the work unit. Team-based organizations, with their flat structures,
can respond quickly and effectively in the fast-changing environments
most organizations now encounter (Cohen and Bailey, 1997).
Teams enable organizations to speedily develop and deliver products and
services quickly and cost effectively. Teams can work faster and more
effectively with members working in parallel and interdependently
whereas individuals working serially are much slower. For example, in
writing complex software for modern computer games, different teams
can take responsibility for working in parallel on key elements of the
overall program. Their separate contributions can then be combined to
ensure quick delivery of the final product.
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18 Part 1: Team Effectiveness
●
●
●
●
●
West_c02.indd 18
Teams enable organizations to learn (and retain learning) more effectively.
When one team member leaves, the learning of the team is not lost. Team
members also learn from each other during the course of team working.
Cross-functional teams promote improved quality management. By
combining team members’ diverse perspectives, decision making is more
comprehensive because team members from diverse functional
backgrounds question ideas and decisions about how best to provide
products and services to clients. For example, in a team involved in
developing cosmetics, the marketing specialist is likely to challenge
decisions made by a chemist about product appearance, based on his or
her knowledge of customer preferences. The chemist may be focused on
the effectiveness of the product rather than its appearance. The perspectives
of other team members around production processes, packaging,
promotion and cost will all contribute to a more informed outcome.
Diversity, properly processed, leads to high-quality decision making
and innovation (van Knippenburg and Schippers 2007; West, 2002).
Cross-functional design teams can undertake radical change. The breadth
of perspective offered by cross-functional teams produces the questioning
and integration of diverse perspectives that enables teams to challenge
basic assumptions and make radical changes to improve their products,
services and ways of working. In one organization I visited, teams were
created out of all those involved in the servicing of military fighter planes.
They then reduced the service time from six months to three weeks by
pooling their diverse perspectives with the aim of achieving a huge
increase in efficiency. Time is saved if activities, formerly performed
sequentially by individuals, can be performed concurrently by people
working in teams.
Innovation is promoted within team-based organizations because of
cross-fertilization of ideas. When we bring together team members with
differing knowledge, skills and abilities that are relevant to the team’s
task, the process of sharing perspectives and knowledge challenges
assumptions and opens up the space for exploration of new and improved
ways of doing things. Whether in health care, manufacturing, oil and gas
or any other area of industry, team working is associated with higher
levels of innovation (Sacramento, Chang and West, 2006).
Flat organizations can be co-ordinated and directed more effectively if
the functional unit is the team rather than the individual. Setting
objectives, aligned with organizational objectives, for seven teams each
made up of seven members, is a lot easier than setting objectives for 49
individuals. One leader can oversee the work of seven teams but more
like seven leaders are needed to oversee the work of 49 individuals.
Consequently, fewer layers of management are needed where team
working is widespread.
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